Low paid work might be good for the bottom line, but it doesn’t let families invest in the lives of their children and in the economy of our communities

Dear MPP Fedeli

You have an important choice to make. As educators living and working in the Nipissing region, we think it’s wrong that you support Doug Ford’s plan to ignore the immediate needs of precarious workers. We believe that all earners in Nipissing need decent wages and fair working conditions to lead good lives. MPP Fedeli, we urge you to do what’s right and vote against Doug Ford’s irrational and mean-spirited plan.

As educators, we know the importance of decent jobs, especially for the parents of children and our youngest workers, high school and post-secondary students. We see the benefits of a $15 minimum wage, two paid sick days, and equal pay for equal work, not just as good economics, but as important social determinants of health and well-being. Doug Ford’s rollback of our labour laws is harmful to our community. If not you, MPP Fedeli, then who will stand up for workers in our communities?

We have a front row seat to the impact of low wages. Low paid work might be good for the bottom line, but it doesn’t let families invest in the lives of their children and in the economy of our communities. Faced with last-minute scheduling parents can’t commit to coach soccer teams or be a steadying presence in school advisory committees, for example. Our families need to be the priorities in the lives of working people, not the increasing demands of more hours, multiple jobs, and less money.

What will happen when Doug Ford decides to eliminate the tuition grant program, MPP Fedeli? How will people afford to lift themselves out of poverty and become productive, taxpaying members of our society? More crippling and tsunami-like loans are not the answer. Higher incomes help people make their lives better.

MPP Fedeli, we don’t want our young adults to leave Nipissing. With fewer decent jobs as the reality, available employment needs to allow families the ability to pay the bills. Since the $14 minimum wage came in, Ontario’s full-time jobs have increased and unemployment rates have fallen to record lows. For the first time in a long time more families have more money to help them find ways to lead lasting and meaningful lives in the North. We urge you to vote against Bill 47.